"It goes on the basis of keywords and string data. You put in a search string, and it generates a list of reports for you to find. Along with the search string you used, a list of other search terms will be listed beneath each stated file from the initial string. This is helpful if you can't remember a specific search term. Search for key terms such as 'portal', 'locations' and anything else that you would expect to be found within a report documenting the locations of them. If you do try to look for secondary portals, use the term 'Class B portal'. Primary portals are 'Class A portals' so make sure you're specific."
She also told us how to activate the opening door for the library, and how to get back out once it was closed. It was surprisingly simple, but I wouldn't say that out loud for fear of jinxing it. After she had finished filling us in, COLUS outlined the plan, which from the sounds of things was similar to our current operations before our little expedition to the Nether.
"Once you identify any piece of data indicating portal locations, come straight back to the base. You'll likely need THEROS to interpret the map coordinates for you, and we're hoping to have a chunk of the glowing stone available to use. If we're lucky, we can try to chip off multiple stones so you can split up if you feel it is necessary. It's up to you, but it's worth considering."
Once everyone was happy with what they were doing, THEROS handed AMPHIS the map and we headed out to the tower. As it was a shortish journey, we were travelling light; no pickaxes or bows, and no bags. Well, there was no real need for one now; AMPHIS had the map and we had lost the Solus stone. Still, we could start anew, and hopefully be back on track in no time.
The hike to the tower was uneventful as usual; we had expected to see HoN Co. guards or Creepers, mainly due to the lack of them we had seen recently. But we saw nothing, no-one. Well a few cows made their presence known, but unless they begin hissing at me and exploding at the drop of a hat, I've got nothing to worry about. We approached the Northern side of the tower, thinking it a little odd that no guards could be seen from any of the sides we had skimmed past. Usually there's at least one guard wandering around the perimeter, with one or two posted on the entrance. As we got to the Northern side though, we were faced with an oddly confusing, but instantly suspicious sight. No-one was posted on the entrance at all. In fact, security was so lax it seems, that the door was wide open! The portion of the wall that is usually locked into placed was missing, exposing the entrance into the base of the tower. Using the telescope though, we were able to determine that there was no-one near the entrance on the inside either. Where were all the guards?
"Where are they? It's not like them to leave unexpectedly and leave the front door wide open!"
"I know... I don't feel safe with this one... There's only one way of finding out, but we can't all risk going in there... Right, me and Syeonyx will approach the entrance and go through into the tower. If the door slides shut behind us, head back to the base and inform the others. If we come out and nothing's happened, no trap doors or approaching guards etc., head to the entrance and join us. Got it? Good. Syeonyx, let's go."
UOPETA put the telescope away and we slowly made our way down to the base of the tower. Whilst walking, I had this horrid image of being attacked from above, and instinctively looked up at the main tower itself. I couldn't see anyone or anything hiding from where I was; just the gleaming metal of the tower frame and the strange claw-like appendage sticking out from the top, grasping the sky. We got to the entrance and stopped. I took out my blowpipe, and UOPETA followed suit. He headed in first, with me close behind. After a very quick but thorough search, we determined that no-one was situated within the base of the tower. And with the door still being open, it was either a very slow-to-activate trap, or it wasn't one at all. UOPETA moved outside and motioned with his hand before coming back in. Within a few moments, we were all back together, standing beneath the mighty structure.
"Right. It appears that there is nothing set up for us on this level. So we're going to have to be doubly careful on the way down. Watch out for any places the guards could hide, and try not to leave any side unchecked. We can't slip up now that we're in their domain. If something happens, we're trapped. Hopefully they've just gone on patrol somewhere, so we need to make the best of this time."
We all nodded and began to head down into the main master portal chamber. We were going to need to have all senses tuned to hypersensitivity to ensure we didn't make any silly slip-up.
We made it into the main chamber without meeting or finding any HoN Co. guards or employees... What was going on? The whole place was deserted, and for no obvious reasons... It looked like they had just upped and left! Well needless to say we didn't let the time we had go to waste. Within moments of securing the lower chamber, we activated and entered the portal data room, still in awe about the vastness of this place in terms of space and knowledge! We made our way down to the bottom of the stairs where the automated system was located and instantly started thinking of search strings to use to help us locate the information we needed. I typed in a string of words including 'portal' and 'class', hoping it would pick something up. It returned a series of report titles, some of which were baffling, and some of which seemed of little help at all. I deleted the entries, and tried again with a new set. The search came back with dozens of redundant files, but a few caught my eye, and I sent the automated system to retrieve them for me.
A few minutes later, the machine came back with the flat delivery platform stacked with a few reports and folders. I took them over to a table and UOPETA took over, hoping to narrow down the search. After flicking through each page of each folder, I found nothing that hinted at what we were looking for. We needed images, coordinates, notes. Anything that hinted at possible locations HoN Co. had found. If we couldn't find anything here, we may need to search for replicated portal locations instead. It was much slower, but it was the best we could work with.
"Erm... Guys? I think I found something... It seems to show coordinates..."
Me and UOPETA went over to THEROS who had been leafing through a report and had stopped on one particular page. Looking over his shoulder, I could see a whole series of coordinates and important footnotes applied to them. It looked very similar to the reports we had found before, where the coordinates had pointed to.
"Yes. I think that's them. Come on, take it and let's go. We've already outstayed our welcome."
We reset the automated system and headed for the door, activating the exit sequence to let ourselves out. Once we were at the top of the stairs, we made a beeline for the door, but UOPETA was distracted by something on a desk. We turned to see him leafing through the report, with a worried look on his face.
"UOPETA? What's the matter...?"
"I think I know where the guards are... A patrol said they saw a figure fitting Amie's description and called the others to search... They're searching the surrounding area... They're searching around our base for Amie!"
Syeonyx signing off
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